Global warming’s maths mean we need to build a massive movement.

It’s simple maths: we can emit 565 more gigatons of carbon dioxide and stay below 2°C of warming — anything more than that risks catastrophe for life on earth. The only problem? Burning the fossil fuel that corporations now have in their reserves would result in emitting 2,795 gigatons of carbon dioxide — five times the safe amount. And they’re planning to burn it all — unless we stop them.

In November 2012, following publication of his Rolling Stone article, Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math, Bill McKibben and 350.org hit the road in the USA to build a movement strong enough to change the terrifying math of the climate crisis. The Do the Math Tour was a massive success, with sold out shows in every corner of the country.

Australian coalmining has become a ”rogue industry” and most of the coal slated for export must stay in the ground if the nation is to tackle climate change, according to prominent US environmentalist Bill McKibben.

Many coal projects, and coal infrastructure projects in Queensland, are expected to run for decades, and are only now gaining development approval.

But the federal government has pledged to reduce Australia’s greenhouse output by 80 per cent by the middle of the century, putting it on a collision course with the resources expansion.

”If the world ever takes climate change seriously, that coal simply has to stay in the ground,” Mr McKibben said. ”There’s no physical way to burn it, or Canada’s tar sands, or Venezuela’s shale oil, and not go over the red line that almost all governments, including Australia’s, have drawn at two degrees.”